Hello Again
by finallyxfound
Summary: Spike returns to merry ole England to see Buffy after the apocalyspe in Los Angeles, but not before stopping in Africa to see Xander and tell him what has happened in the short time while he was away. Surprise ending.
1. Walk in the Park?

She sat on the bench in the park staring up to the night sky. Twisting and twirling the wooden stake in her hand she waited for the vampires to come out and play.  
"Oh, come on." The brunette called out.  
"Dawn?" A voice said from beyond the bushes and trees.  
"Who's there?" She jumped up off of the bench and stared into the dark forest, searching for the perpetrator. William the Bloody also known as Spike walked out of the blackened forest grounds and graced her presence.  
"But..."  
"Yea, I'm dead, well, undead is the correct term for it."  
"But you..."  
"Yea, put on the pretty necklace and went into the Hell Mouth with you guys and then burst with sunrays coming out of me."  
Dawn opened her mouth trying to get something out of her system as she weighed the issues and questions running through her mind. Spike stepped forward as the moonlight hit his darkened hair and ruggedly handsome good looks.  
"Your hair... it's brown?"  
"Yeah, something about coming back to the Mother land. It turns brown." He said, coming forward again, hoping to get a hug out of the girl.  
"Does Buffy know you're here?"  
"Buffy? No, she doesn't. Dawn, she doesn't even know I'm alive!" He came forward again as the stake in her hands fell to the pathway. "Am I gonna have to beg for a hug?"  
Dawn smiled coyly and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. "Hi Spike."  
"Hi Dawn." He pulled back to look at her shining face. "So, you slay all by yourself now?"  
"Well, Buffy is out on a date tonight and I'm training a new slayer. She's around her somewhere." Dawn looked around them, watching for the quiet and somewhat creepy recruit who was still dealing with some issues.  
"So you're a watcher now? Like Andrew?"  
"No, not there yet and Andrew's still training as well. He likes to exaggerate. We are talking about the same Andrew right?"  
"Yea, I think so." Spike walked with her down the pathway as they looked out for a lurking slayer who was silently on the prowl. "So, Buffy's on a date?"  
"Yea, with some creepy guy from Devonshire. He's alright but... never mind."  
"But what Dawn?"  
"Well, he's not you." Dawn stopped in the middle of the pathway and looked over at him. The new recruit pounced on his back and pinned him down on the cold cement. "Paola! Stop!" Dawn tried to get her off of him, but the slayer strength was too much of a match for her. Dawn flew back off of her and watched as Paola got out her wooden stake to kill Spike. He pushed the novice slayer off of him, tossing her back onto the landscaped parkway.  
"Dawn! Some help here?" Spike yelled as he pinned the apprentice to the cold and damp ground. Dawn ran back over to his side and helped him as she took the stake and rest of the weapons from her body.  
"Paola, where are your pictures?"  
"The pocket." Her accent escaped her raging mouth.  
Dawn took the wallet from her jeans and flipped through the tiny photographs that the slayers received when they came to the main base. The pictures were given to the slayers to show them who was an ally and who was evil. Spike's picture was the first one in Paola's wallet and Dawn showed it to the novice.  
"Look Paola. Look at the picture. He's good."  
"But, vampire..."  
"Yes, he is a vampire, but he's good. He has a soul."  
"Still...vampire."  
"Paola, just trust me. Don't kill him." Dawn nodded her head to Spike for him to let her up off the ground. Handing the wallet back to Paola, she intertwined her arm with hers and started walking back down the pathway. "Plus, killing Spike is Buffy's job."  
  
Giles was in his office, searching through a sixteenth century old book for absolutely nothing in particular when Dawn and Paola returned with a man standing outside in the dark. Giles walked out of his office and looked up to the young watcher and slayer.  
"Done so soon?" He took off his glasses and started to clean them.  
"Come on, Giles. You've had us patrolling all day. There are hardly any things or...things lurking in that park now. Trust us." Dawn said, laying the weaponry on the table. She heard Spike's grunt from outside the door.  
"Oh, sorry. I invite you in."  
"Is Buffy here?" Spike asked as Giles put his glasses back on, squinting into the doorway to see who was there.  
"No, she's not back yet. Is that who..." Giles said, contemplating in his mind of who else in the world had an accent like that.  
"Who you think it is?" Spike walked through the door in his ankle length black leather coat and brown locks. "Yea, it's me."  
"How..."  
"Oh bugger, Rupert, I'm gonna have to start to explain myself aren't I?"  
Dawn nodded towards him as he took off his coat and laid it on a chair. He sat down and put his feet up on the library table, laughing at Giles' face.  
"I would've thought that Andrew explained this all to you. But then again, I did tell him not to tell you all." He paused as Giles swiped his feet off of the table and sat across from him. "Well, somehow, at the end of the whole apocalypse thing, I was sucked into that pretty little necklace and sent to Los Angeles to none other than everyone's favorite vampire with a soul, Angel." Spike propped his elbows up on the table as the new slayers and watchers came into the room and sat around the legendary Spike, listening to his story. "Well, along the while, I got a job at Evil Incorporated, working side by side with Dead boy and his minions. We fought the next apocalypse with only the four of us and won, I guess you could say. All of us are taking a break right now and I decided to come home."  
"Where is Angel? And who's the four of us?"  
"Wesley died Giles. He was killed. Sad, it was. He was probably the bravest of us all. Angel is..." Spike thought what to tell the Head Watcher of the soul boy's whereabouts. "He's on a sabbatical."  
Dawn came back from the kitchen with Willow by her side and set the cup of blood in front of him.  
"Spike!?!" Willow's shrieky voice echoed off of the cathedral ceiling and towering bookcases. She leaped into the air and took him down to the floor with her, hugging him close.  
"Hi Willow." He said, muffled under her long auburn hair. She lifted her head up and laid a kiss on him. "Whoa now, did you switch back?"  
"Heck no. You just deserve a kiss." She flashed him a smile and got up off the ground, pulling him with her yet again. "So, how'd that fight go?"  
"Why are you asking me that? You already know."  
"Yeah, I do. Nice job with that dragon."  
"Thank you, my dear lady." He bowed in noble fashion and took the glass of blood from the table, drinking it.

Buffy and Tomas got into slayer central just after three a.m. and were all over each other. The main study was silent as Spike stood in the dark corner and watched her move into the young Englishman, kissing his neck and moving up to his lips. He smiled and smirked, shaking his head down to the ground, not wanting to watch her be in the arms of another man or vampire with a soul for that matter. Tomas cupped Buffy's head and leaned her back onto the table when Spike's watch alarm went off. The beeping echoed into the bookcases and broke off the embrace between the two lovers in front of him. Spike quickly took off the watch and set it silently on the next library table. He moved back into the next row of bookshelves so she wouldn't see him.  
"Who's there?" She yelled out, picking up at stake out of her purse and defending Tomas from whoever was there.  
"Buffy..." Tomas whispered to her. She turned around and looked at him. "I think I should go."  
"But..." Her pouty lip came out to play then._ Look at that pout, I'm gonna get it_. Spike remembered that time where he was actually pretending to be in love with her. Willow's spell came true, well on his part it did. "But...tonight was going to be the night..."  
"As much as I would like that to happen..."  
"As much as we would all like to see it..." Giles came out of his office and turned on the lights with Andrew following him close behind. Willow, Dawn, and Kennedy came out of the hallway and eyed Tomas to get out. "Get out."  
"What is this?" Tomas asked raising his arms about.  
"You heard the watcher, Tomas. Get out." Willow showed the Englishman out the door and turned to Buffy. "Have a nice time?"  
"I don't think so." Buffy yelled at them. "You don't get to throw my date out of here, pretending that it didn't mean anything and then turn around and ask me if I had a nice time. What the hell is going on here?" Buffy asked, taking her stand as head slayer as she always did. The gang looked at each other searching for an answer. Buffy stood still as she felt the chill go up her back. "Oh my god..." She whispered and put her hand over her mouth, realizing who was here. And still alive.


	2. Talking

Buffy took the glass out of the cabinet and poured the milk that she had gotten in the refrigerator into it. She put her hands back upon the island and closed her eyes again. How could this be? How could in all the world could he come back to life? How was it possible?  
  
"It's possible." Willow said from behind her, making Buffy jump a little out of her socks.  
  
"Will, stop doing that. Get out of my thoughts!" Buffy yelled back at her best friend. She looked up and saw the redhead flinch at her screaming. "Sorry. It's just...well..."  
  
"That you never expected to see him again. I know. He saved the world for you...for us." Willow paused, trying to comfort her friend in her newest troubles.  
  
"I get that he saved the world for us crap, Willow. I was with him when he went up in flames. Something I never want to see ever, ever again. But what I don't get, is why he waited this long to come and see me."  
  
"Maybe it's because he loves you." A man's voice in the door frame said. Xander Harris stood tall and handsome looking in the frame. His hair was now short, his five o'clock shadow had began to show, and the tall dark leather trenchcoat scaled his ladder length legs.  
  
"Xander?" Buffy and Willow said in unison, amazed and extremely glad that he was here.  
  
"Hello my ladies." He smiled and got them into one of his best friend bear hugs that he was famous for. "Miss me?"  
  
"You have no clue." Buffy held tightly onto him, as his pharynx pleaded for oxygen.  
  
"Buff, a little air, please."  
  
"Oh, sorry. I'm just so glad to see you." She let him go and stared at him and his new look. "I'm loving the new look."  
  
"Thanks. Had a new friend help me on the matters of appearance." Xander looked into the reflective toaster and wiped his hands over his slick hair and turned back to the girls. "So, I guess he finally showed up?"  
  
"You knew?" Willow asked.  
  
"Yeah, he contacted me first." Xander crossed his arms and leaned back on the stationary countertop. "It was funny. I was thinking that the First was back in action."  
  
"How did he prove that it was really him?" The redhead persisted.  
  
"Well, that's even funnier. He started to do this routine that..." Xander stopped when he remembered that the routine was their secret. Plus, it was when Anya was still around and he didn't want to open that can of worms again. "Well, let me just tell you that it's him, through and through. Although the hair, kind of threw me off just a little bit."  
  
"Yeah, me too. I love that color on him."  
  
"It's not bad. I guess he just got in line with the rest of us."  
  
"Wait, he's not blond?" Buffy asked, taking a seat next to Willow on a stool.  
  
"She hasn't seen him yet?" He asked referring to Willow.  
  
"Nope. He's in the office with Giles and Andrew, if you wanted to see him."  
  
"Already did. I'd rather spend my time with my two favorite girls."  
  
"You're really sweet Xander, but that was corny."  
  
"Thanks Buff." Xander leaned on the counter and clasped his hands together. "You wanna tell the Xan-man what the deal is?"  
  
"Not you too. I just don't want to talk about it. Okay?"  
  
"I don't think so. You are going to talk, Buffy. Now." Xander forced her as she let out a sigh of relief that her two best friends were there to listen to her rant. It kind of reminded her of Sunnydale and the high school days. Those days were simple compared to now, save the part of Angel and every single demon that made her and her family and friend's lives a living hell. It was time to talk.

Spike sat across from Rupert Giles, watcher at large and Andrew Wells, watcher in training. Wasn't this the picture of a happy family? He thought to himself. Giles took of his glasses for the three-hundredth time while Andrew sipped on his juice box that Willow had gotten from the kitchen for him. Silence was nerve wracking and Spike was glad that Xander had gotten here in time this time. They had sat up until the morning hours many nights in Morocco planning on his return and his announcement to Buffy that he was back. For good this time. He had hoped in the back of his mind that maybe they could have a go at it again. Not for the sex, or the feeling, but for love this time. Maybe they could start from the beginning: start at basic acquaintances and move up towards the best friends thing, like Angel had found with Cordelia. He admired his fellow vampire-with-a-soul for that. Yet, he lost her to the Powers before he could do or say anything about it. It was tough for him and yet he still went on living. He had to hand it to him though, he sure knew how to be brave for the others around him. He knew how to love a woman, he knew how to deal with the things that normal people would shudder at the sight of, and he knew that Angel and his sabbaticals were a good thing.  
  
"So, have you given any thought on what you're going to do?" Giles snapped Spike out of his trance and deep thoughts that he wanted to stay deep. Spike looked up at the aging watcher and leaned forward wanting to spill his guts out to the proper English gentleman about his intentions and plans for the future ahead of him. But instead, he simply let out a heavy breath, or lack of one.  
  
"Not really." He lied through his teeth.  
  
Xander and Willow came back from the kitchen and sprawled out on the gigantic library tables, exhausted from the talk with Buffy about this whole ordeal. Spike, Giles and Andrew came out of the office, wondering what was said between the three friends.  
  
"I. Am. So. Tired." Xander said in cut off words, his mouth open and drool slipping from his lips.  
  
"Xander!" Giles took out his handkerchief and wiped the pool up off of his table.  
  
"Sorry, Giles." Xander said, wiping the drool from his lower chin and sitting up. Willow let her head hang between her shoulders as Spike came up behind her.  
  
"Hey, Red..." he started to whisper, "I think it's time for you to go to bed." Willow nodded her head in agreement as Spike picked her up in his arms, her head leaning on his shoulder lightly.  
  
"Where's her room?"  
  
"Second floor, third door on the left." Giles said as Spike went towards the staircase. Step by step, her head got heavier on his shoulder. It made him think about how this could be Buffy in his arms, sleeping on his shoulder. He shook his head as the second floor came into view. Each door on the floor was different. The first two were painted a shade of green, with different type knockers to adorn the frames. The second pair donned a French 1920s era hinges and décor. The third door on the left, however, was a bit modernized with a plain old door knob with the finest grain of oak embedded in it. Spike grasped his hand on the door knob and opened a new world to Willow he had never seen before. As the light flipped on, her bed, centered in the room, was the picture of a perfect pretty little girls' bedroom. It wasn't pink, like he had thought, but a pale yellow that enlarged the room to its fullest extent. Chinese dressers and armoires were placed along the wall with posters and enlarged photographs of important landmarks and glorious places. He moved towards the frilly lined bed and set her down, cradling her head, resting it upon the pillow. Slowly pulling the comforter down behind her back, he pulled her legs into the sheets and tugged them up above her shoulders. Brushing her red hair back behind her ears, he retreated his steps and flipped the switch off and let a deep breath out as he shut the door behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the blond hair run into her room, which was just two doors down.  
  
"Buffy!" He skipped along. "Wait."  
  
"Go away!" She hollered back, not wanting to do this tonight. He let her be and hovered over her door, running his hand down the crevasses of the solid oak door.  
  
"I'm sorry." He whispered as he let her be. Walking back down the hallway, he didn't look back this time. He knew she wanted to be alone. He wasn't going to make that mistake again. As he trotted down the stairs, Buffy came out of her room and stared down the hallway where his smell still lingered. _I missed you._


	3. Morning After

The next morning , Buffy got up late and she was still tired. She remembered going into her room and laying in the darkness of the night thinking about him. Why was she thinking about him? WHY? She didn't need him anymore. She didn't want to need him anymore. And she hated to admit that she did. Buffy reached up into the cabinet and grabbed the grape jelly. Spooning some out of the jar, she spread the jelly all over her nice burnt toast and took her plate and sleep deprived body over to the nook. She thought about Spike the whole night through. She hadn't fallen asleep until a few hours ago and then she had the dreams again. The dreams that fulfilled her every fantasy and urge from the night before and back but now, the dreams were haunting. He was actually alive, well technically undead, all this time. Taking a small bite or her toast, she crunched the piece in between her teeth as Dawn came into the kitchen.  
"Morning Buffy." Her younger but growing sister said.  
"Morning." She responded and continued to stare down at the oak table.  
"So, have you even spoken to him yet?" Dawn asked, grabbing the cereal box, milk, bowl and spoon and sitting next to the petite blonde.  
"How is that any of your business?"  
"Because you're my sister and he's my friend." Dawn pointed out and poured the milk on her cereal. The snap, crackle, pop was music to her ears.  
"Dawn, he's a vampire!"  
"That has never stopped you before." Dawn said, scooping the cereal in the spoon and shoving it into her mouth. "Think about it. Pike. Angel. Spike. Riley. Parker. Then you have to count Colin because he was just well, Colin. Now, pick one of those guys that loved you, cherished you, tried every day to make you proud, to make you happy, and the one that you miss the most." Dawn dared her, chomping on her cereal as it disappeared. She waited and waited as Buffy stared at her half eaten toast and thought. "Oh come on Buffy. You know the answer, it's right on the tip of your tongue and you can't even admit it?"  
"I don't want to admit it." She whispered so only Dawn could hear.  
"Why not?" Dawn asked as she walked over to the sink to rinse out her bowl and put back the milk.  
"Because I don't love him."  
"So?" Dawn put her hand on her hip and looked at her sister. "Buffy, you don't have to love the guy the first time you see him. If that happened, I would be married to every guy that I had a crush on." Dawn came back over to the table and grabbed Buffy's hands. "All I...we want you to do is talk to him. That's all he ever wanted...was to talk to you." Dawn kissed her big sister's forehead and started to leave when Spike entered with his cell phone attached to his ear.  
"Morning Dawn." He directed towards the girl and headed towards the refrigerator to get something to drink. "I understand that Connor, but you need to let your father be. He has some things to get through." Spike stopped and eyed Buffy, sitting at the tiny table by herself. Connor rambled on the other side of the line and Spike let it brush past him and stared at her. She was a vision of beauty, he thought. Her blond hair shone in the early morning light and reflected off of her bare shoulders as she delicately pulled the piece of burnt toast up towards her mouth. The curve of her lisp enticed him and he honestly couldn't remember how they felt on his lips anymore.  
"Connor!" He yelled at the phone. "Calm down. Illyria knows what she's doing. And if you have any troubles with her just call Gunn. He knows how to handle her." He reminded the boy. "Wait a minute, what? She hurt him?" He listened to the boy talk on the other line and Buffy watched his face expressions go all wonky. "Okay, if you need help with her, call Gunn or Kate. They know what to do." He paused again. "I don't know when your father is going to be back. He's Angel. Does he ever tell anyone? Okay. Be good and I'll see you when I get back." He flipped the cell phone closed and became bold, sitting across the table from Buffy and taking a drink of the water he had gotten out of the fridge.  
"Since when does Angel have a son?" Buffy looked up and asked, confusion in her face. A smile decorated his face, surprised and rejoicing in his soul that she actually talked to him.

"Funny story actually. You up to hear it?"  
"Yeah. It's not like I have anywhere to be."  
"Okay. Well, During our little affair back in Sunnydale, over in Los Angeles, Angel and his gang were busy helping Darla through her pregnancy. She was pregnant with his child."  
"Wait a minute. Darla? Didn't he kill her like a million years ago?"  
"He did kill her, but Evil Incorporated brought her back to drive him crazy. One night he got sack happy with her and poof went her belly."  
"So, a son?"  
"A son." Spike leaned forward as Giles and Xander walked into the kitchen for breakfast. He cleared his throat and took another drink of his water when his cell went off again. "Spike here." He answered. "Illyria? How did you get this number?" Spike left the room to deal with the ex-god king, creator of things. Xander and Giles took a seat next to Buffy and wondered what had happened between them in the early morning hours. She looked up at them looking at her.  
"What?"  
"You are going to have to tell us sometime you know?" Xander told her.  
"Who says?"  
"I do." Giles said, looking at her and flashing a smile for a second and hiding it again. Spike came back into the kitchen, wanting something to eat.  
"Wait a minute, you don't eat. You can't." Buffy pointed out.  
"I can and I will." Spike searched the fridge for something appetizing.  
"Wait, you haven't told them yet?" Xander spoke up, knowing the ex-vampire had not told anyone except him about the transformation.  
"What do you think?"  
"You have to tell them Spike!"  
"Says who?"  
"Wait, tell us what?" Giles broke up the argument between the two for the thousandth time.  
"If you don't, I will." Xander stood up and declared, when Willow walked in the room, cheerful from a good night's sleep.  
"Morning everyone." She said happily, heading towards the same fridge that Spike was standing in front of. "I'm guessing that I ran right into a fight? Buffy, don't fight with him, just give him a chance." She presumed that Buffy had something to do with this.  
"I didn't have anything to do with this, Willow! Why do you always presume that I have something to do with it?" Buffy huffed at her best friend.  
"Sorry."  
"You have to tell them Spike! Now!" Xander demanded.  
"Tell us what?" Willow looked around at Buffy and Giles, as they both shrugged their shoulders.  
"That he's..."  
"Xander! Don't. It's my thing to share and I'm not sharing right now. Okay?" Spike yelled at him.  
"Then when are you gonna tell them? When we ask you to go to a matinee on Sunday afternoon? Or when someone accidentally opens the curtains and they finally realize that you're..."  
"Xander!" Giles yelled at him. "When Spike wants to share, he will."  
"Thank you watcher." Spike acknowledged the older man.  
"That doesn't mean that I'm on your side, Spike. I never was or ever will be."  
"Fair enough." Spike finished the conversation up as his cell phone blared out of the back of his jeans pocket.  
"Spike here. Gunn? What's wrong?" Everyone watched as Spike flipped out on the phone to a man named Gunn.  
"What's wrong with him?" They listened more. "Where is he?" Spike grabbed a pen and paper off the refrigerator and wrote down the address. "Okay, I'll go get him and send him back. Alright, bye." Spike flipped the phone closed and shoved it back in his jeans pocket. "You know where this is?" Spike handed the address to Willow to read. She looked down at the address and immediately recognized it.  
"This is the address to the coven. How did you get it?"  
"One of my friends is there. We need to go get him so he can get on with his life, or what's left of it."  
"Okay. We'll go later when the sun sets."  
"We can go now." Spike started to walk out towards the library and reached for the doors when Buffy stopped him. "What are you doing?"  
"No, the question is what are you doing? Spike you were about to walk out of this building and ignite into a million fire balls."  
"So?"  
"So! So?!? Listen buddy, you think you can come back into my life and expect me to run into your arms, picking up where we left off? You expect to show up here, making all these feelings arise again and then you want to go out into the sun and burn up just so you can prove that you're a man to me? I don't think so. You already proved yourself to me. You did when you hid the truth from Glory for Dawn, you proved it when you helped me with Willow and you proved it when you sacrificed yourself to save us all in Sunnydale. So don't you think that ending your undead pathetic excuse for a life is going to excuse you. Don't!"  
"Buffy, that's a beautiful speech." Spike said, wiping away a stray tear that escaped her eye. "But I have to go and get a friend. He needs to go home."  
"Then you leave as well."  
"You're going to have to tell her." Xander pointed out to Spike. Spike rolled his eyes over to the first person he put his trust in after the shanshu happened.  
"Why don't I just show her?" Spike turned his attention back to Buffy and kissed her cheek before clutching the handle on the door and opening it.  
"Spike!" Buffy's worried voice screamed as he walked out into the sunbathed driveway, without bursting into flames. Buffy turned back into Xander's arms, not wanting to see the dust on the driveway.

"Oh my God..." Dawn said gasping and covering her mouth. Willow and Giles moved forward looking into the driveway.  
"I thought I was hearing things last night..." Willow trailed off not wanting to spoil the news for Buffy.  
"Buffy, you can turn around now." Xander ran his hand down Buffy's back trying to console her.  
"No, I don't want to. I don't wanna see the dust."  
"You won't." Xander grasped her shoulders and turned her around to see out the door. Uncovering her eyes slowly, she was angry at what she saw.  
"How?" She asked, walking out onto the driveway basked in sunlight and a tanless ex-vampire. There he was, the great and terrible William the Bloody standing in the sun like it was something he did everyday. Lifting her hand to his chest, Spike covered it with his as his heart thumped in his chest.  
"Oh my...you're....you're a... how is this possible?"  
"I'm alive, Buffy. I'm alive and if you want I can explain the prophecy later on. But right now, I have to go and get Angel from the coven with Willow," he stressed her name, "and ship him back to his son." Spike smiled down at her, watching the sun glisten her tears that she had shed.  
"Your heart is beating."  
"Yea. It's been doing that quite a lot actually."  
"How long?"  
"How long what?"  
"How long have you known...that you were alive?"  
"After the fight." Spike took Buffy's hand and laid a gentlemen's kiss upon it and returned it to her side. "I will be back in a while. We can talk then. Red, you coming?" He motioned to Willow.  
"Wait, you can't drop this in her lap and go off right after." Giles objected.  
"Okay Giles, here's a scenario for you. You and Red here go and get Angel and when you don't return because he's crazy and he killed you and then I still have to go and get him because there are only three people in the world that could handle him like this and three of them are dead." Spike hopped on his motorcycle and handed Willow a helmet to put on. "Give us two hours." Spike said to Giles who was still shaking his head and then looked to Buffy. "I will be back. I promise."  
"You better."


	4. Surprise

Willow and Spike reached the coven in record time. Taking off their helmets they made their way to the entrance door.  
"Wow. I'd forgotten how beautiful it was up here."  
"Yeah, it is." Willow said looking around at the beautiful landscaped gardens and grassy lands. Turning back around, she knocked on the door and Sister Helen opened the door to see who it was.  
"Mistress Willow, how lovely to see you again. I hope this isn't another one of your calls about Buffy and Giles with magic and stuff."  
"Oh no Sister Helen. My friend and I are here to pick up a friend that we were told was here."  
"Oh, you're talking about the champion in our wine cellar. Please, come in." She made way for the both of them to enter the coven and greeted Spike as he flashed her a smile. "Right this way." Sister Helen led them down to the wine cellar to retrieve Angel, the coven's champion as he was called nowadays.  
"Angel!" Spike yelled as soon as he saw him. He was crouched in a corner, rocking himself back and forth. Spike shook his shoulders to snap him out of his trance.  
"He's been doing that for a while. Something about a birthday and a girl named..."  
"Cordelia?" Spike asked.  
"Yes, that was it. " Sister Helen responded.  
"Cordelia? Since when..." Willow asked.  
"Long story, I'll explain later as always." Spike turned his attention back to Angel. "Come on Angel! Snap out of it." Spike punched Angel, snapping him out of his trance.  
"Spike?" Angel looked up still dazed. He wiped the blood dripping from his bottom lip. "That hurt."  
"Sorry, I'll try to be gentler next time." He grabbed onto Angel's arms and tried to help him up. "Let's get out of here."  
"But Spike, the sun." Willow pointed to the ceiling referring to the sun and Angel got up.  
"Willow? Is that really you?" Angel stumbled over to her, taking her in his arms, hugging her.  
"Hi Angel." Willow squeezed his form and closed her eyes. "I take this as a happy-to-see-me-hug?"  
"Yes." He said, still hanging on to the red headed girl. Spike came and patted him on the back.  
"Come on Angel. Let's get you back to your son."  
"Connor? He asked for me?"  
"Yeah, he is your son Angel."  
"But the only one he ever asked for was..." Angel started to tear up again at the mention of her name.  
"We are not going to mention her name. Let's just go. Willow, you have that teleportation thing down, right?"  
"Yeah, I'll take him back to the estate while you travel back normally."  
"Thanks Willow. You don't know how much this means to me." He said to her, looking from her to Angel. "I'll be there as soon as I can." Willow nodded her head and recited a couple of words and poof, they were gone. Spike looked over at Sister Helen who was still standing in the doorway, watching the interaction between the three.  
"Can you show me where his stuff is, if there is any?"  
"Of course." Sister Helen retreated her steps and grabbed a couple of bags from the closet. "Be careful going back. The road is longer and danger lurks there."  
"I will, don't worry."  
"Also, you're a good friend with a good heart. The Lord hath shed his light on you."  
Spike nodded his head and acknowledged the sister before heading out the door.

Two hours later, Spike parked his motorcycle outside the estate and grabbed for Angel's bag, hoping that Willow had gotten him there in one piece. Walking into the large study, he was thankful that he was there.  
"Everything still in one piece?" He said, throwing the bag on the table and hopping up on the table to sit.  
"Yeah. Xander wasn't really accustomed to having him here, but..."  
"But he'll have to deal until we can get Illyria to get him back to Los Angeles. She's still trying to regain her powers again."  
"Illyria? The ancient God-king?" Giles asked in interest.  
"Yeah. Willow, you know her actually. Used to be Winifred Burkle."  
"Fred? Fred is Illyria?"  
"Yeah. We don't really like to dwell on that though. Don't really like to dwell on anything that has to do with Wolfram & Hart or alternate dimensions, and a certainly lady whose name starts with C." Spike said, pointing to Angel's head. "Buffy around?"  
"Yeah, she's out in the gardens. She should be by the hyacinth, she likes those best." Giles pointed out to Spike.  
"Thanks mate. I'll be right back, don't go anywhere." He told Angel, hopping off the table and making his way to the gardens. He went down the beautiful aisles, lined with roses, forget-me-nots, lilacs, lilies, and magnolias. He got to the hyacinths and spotted her quickly, her face lighting up in the setting sun as she whiffed a smell of the flower before her. "They smell good, don't they?"  
Buffy looked up and over at him walking down the aisle towards her. "Uh, yeah, they do." She fiddled with her hands before deciding to put them behind her back as he came closer.  
"I'm sorry."  
"For what?"  
"Let me finish, please. I'm sorry I didn't contact you after I came out of the necklace. I just didn't know how you would feel after you saw me burst into flames and thinking that I was dead. Which I still was, but that's besides the point."  
"It's alright."  
"No, it's not. I should've called you, came running to you, but there was this little drawback of the deal, seeing as I could walk through walls and couldn't leave Los Angeles."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, I could literally walk through walls and whenever I tried to leave L.A., I was bounced right back to Angel's office."  
"But you wanted to, right? I mean, leave L.A."  
"Well, yea, all I could think about at night when and if I slept was you." Spike said, walking with her down the rest of the hyacinth aisle. Buffy looked over at him and cupped his face with her hand, like she did the night before everything went to Hell. Literally.  
"Tell me about this prophecy." She pleaded.  
"Oh yea, the Shanshu Prophecy thing. Simple really. I had Wesley explain it to me before he...well, you know. It was thought that it was meant for Angel, him being the only vampire with a soul when it was discovered, then I went to get my soul back for you and..."  
"Spike, any idea when you're going to get to the point?" Buffy motioned.  
"Oh, right, sorry. Well in the scrolls, it says that the vampire with a soul will shanshu, which means to live. The vampire with a soul, after a series of apocalypses and whose-ya-whats-it, will become human. Everyone thought it was for Angel, but after all the apocalypse and him signing his shanshu away, it came to me."  
"Wow."  
"Yea, I know." Spike said, looking at her as the moonlight came upon them.  
"I hope you know that this is going to take some getting used to, but I hope you're going to stay around."  
"I am, don't worry about that. I'm not leaving."  
"Good." Buffy smiled and kissed him on the cheek.  
"Now that's something I wasn't expecting."  
"Come on, let's go back inside."  
"So soon?" Spike asked as she grabbed his hand and dragged him back into the estate. They entered just as Illyria popped in and started waving her hand about, time frequencies going all bonkers. "Illyria! Stop!" Spike ran towards her.  
"Why?"  
"Because these are good people. We don't hurt good people."  
"Humans are strange. How do I know they are not here to kill?" Illyria asked him, tilting her head towards the Scoobies.  
"Because I said so." Spike caught her hand and held it to her side, meaning what he said. Illyria brushed him off, going up to Willow and searching her face.  
"I...I mean, Fred, she knew you. She liked you. I can see the fragments still." Illyria said in her monotone voice, still looking over the red head's face.  
"She's on drugs, right?" Xander asked, jokingly.  
"Oh Xander, I wouldn't have done that." Spike said, shaking Angel out of another trance and watching Illyria walk towards Mr. Fix It.  
"What are drugs?" She asked, slanting her head to the right.  
  
Illyria had popped in and out, taking Angel back to Los Angeles with her, Xander and Willow had went back up to her room to talk or whatever they called it. It was some secret code that only Buffy, Willow and Xander understood. Giles was in his office training Dawn and Andrew on watcher things while Buffy and Spike sat in the kitchen in complete silence, wondering where to go from here.  
"Buffy?" Tomas showed up at the worst possible time.  
"Tomas? What are you doing here?" Buffy got up from the table and came up to him. He tried to kiss her as she backed away avoiding his lips.  
"I came to get you for dinner. Did you forget?"  
"Oh my gosh, dinner." She gasped. "I did forget. I'm sorry Tomas."  
"That's okay. If we leave now, we can still make the reservation." He looked at his watch and back to her. Buffy looked back at Spike and then to Tomas, with her famous look: the one with the pouty lip.  
"Tomas, I'm sorry, but I can't go." She went back to sit next to Spike. "In fact, I can't go out with you anymore. I'm sorry." Buffy said still looking at Spike as Tomas stormed out of the estate, not caring what the reasoning was or who caused it.  
"Wait, you just blew off a date with hot and sexy Latino bloke to stay home and sit with me?" Spike looked hard at her. "Who are you?"  
"What, you're the only one who can change?"  
He smirked and lowered his head for a second and then directed his attention back to her once more.  
"So where do we go from here?"  
"How about a hello?"  
"Alright. Hello again." He smiled at her, imagining the possibilities of where this could actually go. After all, possibilities are endless.


End file.
